Anyone taking or took trigonometry in college? Tips?

[tsmoothreturns]

So I'm  a math major attending community college and I started with arithmetic  and now I start trigonometry in April.

I purchased my textbook already and so far I"m in chapter 3 (book is 7 chapters). My questions is whats the most important parts in the book? ie some ideas overlap with each other such as defining the sin/cos/tan etc functions in different ways of doing them. (Pythagorean identity, reciprocal, quotient  identity, etc)

What are the most important parts in the book?

What is needed for pre-cal?

Is it a must to memorize the unit circle? I can always draw it in less then a min using identity properties.

Anyone who has taken higher math courses. What science classes help in understanding mathematical concepts?

 

[degenerate423]

I never took Trig, but I took Pre-Cal when I transferred.  For Pre-Cal, I'd say Functions and Graphs, Polynomial and Rational Functions, Exponential and Log Functions, Basic Trig (Sin/Cos/Tan and Triangles) and Trig Identities.  Honestly though, I wouldn't worry about it if I was you, when I took Pre-Cal my professor went over everything as if we never learned it and I'm sure your book will too.

EDIT:

You're definitely gonna need to know the Unit Circle, I would memorize it so you'll be good for tests if you don't get the chart.

And someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're looking at it the wrong way, you're gonna need math classes to help you understand science, like Physics.  For instance, if you took a Calculus-based Physics class without knowing Calculus it would be a struggle, but even if you knew Calculus, I don't think it would help you understand any concepts better, it would just be a way to reenforce what you've learned...

 

[af1 1982]

Soh cah toa

 

[humpasaurus rex]

Subscribe to PatrickJMT

 

[air jordan 45]

Trig functions, identities, anything and everything about right triangles, and triangles for that matter. Wouldn't trip too much,, just do the work and try to understand. "Never memorize anything you can look up in a book". --Albert Einstein (prob not exact quote)

 

[thegreatone]

see if they offer it online, pay someone to take it for you.

 

[beh235]

Soh cah toa

This helps a lot,but there's more to trig than that. Last time I saw trig, I think I was in the 11th grade. That was a looooong time ago lol. Still a fun subject though.

 

[pythagoras]

I took trig last semester and got an A. Just remember all of your identities, remember the unit circle, use https://www.khanacademy.org/math/trigonometry to help you study and go over info, and that's pretty much it. Most of it is basic arithmetic. 

 

[servechilled81]

yeah, Khan Acadamey is

Use it to practice and study along with the course and you should be good.  I wish it existed when I was in college.

Trigonometry was pretty easy for me.  Physics had me blown though

 

[tsmoothreturns]

yeah, Khan Acadamey is

Use it to practice and study along with the course and you should be good.  I wish it existed when I was in college.

Trigonometry was pretty easy for me.  Physics had me blown though

I can't really cosign khan academy. Sure it  has videos to help people, but if you search lets say peicewise functions (dont remember if this is the topic i could not find) then nothing shows up. Just the bare  necessities. Thanks for the patric sugestion poster. I was looking for 3 days how do to sin/cos (6 trigonometric properties) if the right triangle is not a

30/60/90, 45,45,90 triangle. School textbook did not state to do SOH-CAH-TOA lol.

Khanacademy is great for algebra but from first hand experience their geometry section is lacking. Maybe their calculus section gets better.

 

[balloonoboy]

Not taking a course but Identities were hella fun back in HS.

 

[cam2]

PatrickJMT saved my life through Calculus III

 

[nballer24]

It's crazy now that I look back on my college days, calculus was required for all accounting majors. I took that class in the summer and i knew a transfer azn kid who was good in math but struggled with english. we made a deal he took calc for me and i took english for him.

he Went in as me, took the test for me... The whole 9 yards got me an A. I did the same for him.

I felt guilty bout it but honestly I never used any calculus later on in life anyways.

 

[boris]

As mentioned previously, you're going to use mathematical concepts to work through various topics in science. The internet is full of math help. I don't remember trigonometry being too difficult, but when I took it, I think it was combined into other subjects. 

 

[tsmoothreturns]

Another question for people familiar with mathematics. I got different points of view by 3 of my math instructors who I get along with. California state college system is requiring me to take statistics to enter their school. I'm not troubled by taking math classes because I'm very good at it and do not mind putting effort into learning the material. My question is after trigonometry I can either take statistics or go into pre-calculus. Does stats correlate with calculus or any  other higher mathematics. Or should I take statistics later(required).

My teacher who worked at NASA when he was younger( now about 70ish maybe 80) told me to take stats after trig ( was my geometry teacher). His wife who also worked for NASA cosigned him.  Now my other teacher  who is my favorite teacher to take told me to  just take it later. 

Feedback please.

 

[dipsetgeneral]

I remember takin' this Junior year in high school. Joint was like another language to me. Jus' copied off of shones.

 

[af1 1982]

Just be wait till you have to use trig to solve engineering mechanics problems with alternate coordinate systems. Or double integrals with polar coordinates. That's always a walk in the park...

 

[degenerate423]

Another question for people familiar with mathematics. I got different points of view by 3 of my math instructors who I get along with. California state college system is requiring me to take statistics to enter their school. I'm not troubled by taking math classes because I'm very good at it and do not mind putting effort into learning the material. My question is after trigonometry I can either take statistics or go into pre-calculus. Does stats correlate with calculus or any  other higher mathematics. Or should I take statistics later(required).

My teacher who worked at NASA when he was younger( now about 70ish maybe 80) told me to take stats after trig ( was my geometry teacher). His wife who also worked for NASA cosigned him.  Now my other teacher  who is my favorite teacher to take told me to  just take it later. 

Feedback please.

Really depends on your schedule.  Trig is going to lead into Pre-Cal, Pre-Cal will lead into Calculus, and so on, meanwhile Statistics leads to a different path.  You'll re-learn the Trig stuff in Pre-Cal, so it's not as big of a detour if you do Stats after Trig versus if you did Stats after Pre-Cal.  But on the other hand, if you're not in a rush to leave the CC then you can do Stats later...

 

[gkah]

Subscribe to PatrickJMT

I PASSED cal 1 and cal 2 and physics and all my classes to patrick just math tutorial... amazing guy better than my professors, but what book do you need?? if i was you go download the e-book for free online somewhere

 

[tsmoothreturns]

I PASSED cal 1 and cal 2 and physics and all my classes to patrick just math tutorial... amazing guy better than my professors, but what book do you need?? if i was you go download the e-book for free online somewhere

I already got the book  from Amazon a day or two after my Geometry final. The book was $15. My bs community college prints custom editions charging a premium price for these books which you can not buy used. (1st 6? lucky students lol) The author is Sullivan and the title is," Trigonometry A Unit Circle Approach."

Thanks for vid. I actually like this guy better then that khan dude lol.

 

[tsmoothreturns]

Math help please. 

cos theta= -1/3, pie/2<theta<pie.

How do i figure out what quadrant sin/cos are when not stated.

By not knowing it stops me from putting either the + or negative  infront of the radical sign.

Thanks

 

[pythagoras]

Math help please. 

cos theta= -1/3, pie/2<theta<pie.

How do i figure out what quadrant sin/cos are when not stated.

By not knowing it stops me from putting either the + or negative  infront of the radical sign.

Thanks

In this case cos theta is negative, so cos can be negative in quad 2 or 3. Since it states that theta is between pie/2 and pie (quad 2) then cos theta= -1/3 is in quad 2. Idk if this helps.

 

[tsmoothreturns]

In this case cos theta is negative, so cos can be negative in quad 2 or 3. Since it states that theta is between pie/2 and pie (quad 2) then cos theta= -1/3 is in quad 2. Idk if this helps.

Yes, but for sin? All i know is that sin is either in quadrant 2 or 3? how do i figure out the sin? lol